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Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

Last night, really late on TNT, David Aldridge reported that the reason why David Harrison was really not suspended was because if they had suspended one more Pacer player, they would have had to stagger the suspensions due to the fact that they could not have dressed 8 players. Stern did not want to do that because he wanted to inflict the maximum amount of damage possible to the Pacers. I can't find a link to this statement anywhere on the net and I was pretty sleepy, but I am pretty sure those were the words he used.

I am not even sure it works this way because even if they had to stagger suspensions, surely Harrison's would be the last to serve it, but I definitely got the feeling Adridge believes that Stern laid down the punishments in a way to present the NBA's position that it was the Pacers to blame, not just the players, but the organization as well.

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

**** David Stern.Why doesn't his punk *** do anything to the Pistons?I guess the Pacers were the only bad guys.Well to get revenge all we have to do is make it through the next month and a half with at least a .500 record.Another thing that will **** him off is if we develope another All-star. Cough Tinsley Cough

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

I had to wonder while Stern was reading his statement if he wasn't thinking "Dammit Donnie, why was Artest still on your team? He should've been gone long ago"

If he approached it from that angle then I could see how he was wanting to inflict pain on the Pacer organization.

I said early on that when the dust settled that Pacer fans were not going to be happy. We had the easy targets and it looks like Stern went after them wholly placing the blame on the Pacers and not allowing mitigating circumstances to be a serious discussion point.

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

I don't think he wanted to kill The Pacers exactly. What he wanted was to send a message to every GM, coach, and player in the league that if you do this I will *squash* any hopes you have of winning this year. Kinding the NBA equivilant of mounting your enemies heads on spears at your borders.

That's the only reason I can think that JO got what he got. With JO, we still could have possibly made the playoffs, but without our 3 leading scorers and all of our injuries, not a chance. But he might have just figured wrong on that. :-)

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

That's the only reason I can think that JO got what he got. With JO, we still could have possibly made the playoffs, but without our 3 leading scorers and all of our injuries, not a chance. But he might have just figured wrong on that. :-)

IMHO the refs are giving us a really good blow of the whistle since we are
1. Hustling, 2. shorthanded, 3. Home.
It has been predicted that after the guys get back from the suspensions, that might not still be the case. That's why, although I think the Pacers could use Artest in the playoffs, I think the refs will be even more prone to call crazy siht on him. He should just stay out all year and not attract any more bad karma to the team. (and all his interviews just keep the negativity going!)

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

What if the refs look at it like this........

Artest did nothing wrong as far as "on court" action is concerned.

All he did was foul Wallace, not even a hard foul, just a fould from behind.

Artest did nothing to raise the tension between himself & the Pistons, especially Wallace. He kept his cool, backed away & didn't even react aggressively when Wallace hit him in the face with the towel.

Artest made a instant, poor & highly understood decisoin when hit in the face with a cup of beer. His actions were not on court related & might be understood, even applaued, at least behind closed doors by the refs.

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

Obviously, he is out to punish the Pacer organization or else he would have staggered the suspensions. Why do you think Simon released the statement that he did? He knew what was going on.

I don't what his reasoning was and although my only answer would be because we kept Ron; it makes no sense. Ron was being featured in NBA promotion, vote in by coaches to the All-Star game and awarded third team and DPY by the media. Ron was being embraced by the establishment not just the Pacers. There is no way the Pacer Organization or fans were at fault here just scapegoats--which might be a big part of why we love our team so much right now.

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

Don't you get it, it would've been more of a punishment against the Pacers to stagger the suspensions?

We're going to have everybody back at the forty game mark.

If we go 10-15 over the next 25 games, we're still going to be over 0.500 when everybody returns. With Rick's coaching, inspired play from Tinsley, Fred, Austin, and at times, Pollard and Harrison, and with the imminent returns of AJ, Reggie and perhaps Foster, 10-15 is a pretty fair prediction.

If the punishments were staggered, we'd play about 0.500 until midseason, *THEN* we would lose JO for 25 games. You want that?? I don't.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

JO punched a guy that came on the floor and got 25 games. Harrison punches a guy that came on the floor and gets nothing, AJ punches a guy on the floor and gets 5 games. How does all that compute?

Seems to me Stern's punishment was dealt to do the most damage to the Pacers as possible, I don't see any other way it could be perceived.

Jax enters stands clocks one fan, yells at the Pistons players wanting to fight them, gets 5 more games then Jermaine WTF. Well Stern wanted to low blow us and wanted to make sure the teams he likes in the east get a free pass when they play us. Well I'm really glad our bench and young guys are proving him wrong.

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

Jay, do you really think that was Stern's thought process? We might be better off this way but that wasn't the common belief when the suspensions were announced unstaggered.

No, I think Stern's thinking was that he wanted justice to be served swiftly, and waiting until January to punish JO is not 'swiftly' in the NBA's book. He wasn't looking at this either positively or negatively for the Pacers, he was evaluating this for the integrity of the league as a whole.

However, I've disagreed since the first moment that the Pacers would be better off with 'staggered' suspensions, and I cheered when it was announced they would be concurrent. I know I might have been the only one, but I believe this team, over the last forty games, is going to be a major, major force to be reckoned with.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

No, I think Stern's thinking was that he wanted justice to be served swiftly, and waiting until January to punish JO is not 'swiftly' in the NBA's book.

I agree with this statement and add one other comment. Had the punishment been staggard it would have kept the ugliest moment in NBA history in front of the fans all season. In this way, it is dealt with and by the half way point all but Artest are back. From that point on (unless Ron does come back early) the incident can be put behind the NBA and we can focus on basketball without the constant reminder of the brawl. Each time a player were ordered to sit out their turn, it would have renewed that PR nightmare, this way it can go away. By the end of the season everyone can focus on the PO's with only the occasional question of ..."MAN...what would these guys have been if they still had Artest???? "

Re: Reason why David Harrison was not suspended - David Aldridge

If that is truly the reason, then I have lost even more respect for Stern.

Evidently he did not want to inflict any pain on the Pistons.

It's obvious Stern was trying to protect the defending champs. That would have looked REALLY bad if he had to punish them. This incident will repeat itself because Stern has done nothing to punish the Pistons, the Palace or the fans. The only people who were punished were the Pacers, who DID deserve to be punished but the Pistons deserved punishment for allowing things to get out of control.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
- Benjamin Franklin